Baron Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Dunsany:

An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator:

Dunsany, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron, 1878-1957

Title:

Baron Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Dunsany Collection

Dates:

1907-1968, undated

Abstract:

Includes chiefly manuscripts and numerous notebooks of the Irish writer and dramatist best known for his fantasy works published under the name of Lord Dunsany. Some correspondence and contracts are also present in the collection.

Access:

This finding aid replicates and replaces information previously available only in a card catalog. Please see the explanatory note at the end of this finding aid for information regarding the arrangement of the manuscripts as well as the abbreviations commonly used in descriptions.

Summary of speech before the Author's Club, London, January, 1954, handwritten carbon copy manuscript, 5 pages, 9 January 1954. Published as The leaden bells of modern poetry in Saturday review, 6 February 1954. Included with this: ALS to Mr. Gellat, 9 January 1954.

Container

2.8

A tale of the Irish countryside, handwritten manuscript with revisions, pages 46-53, 5 December 1949. Bound with: The return of Col. Polders.

Notebook 8, handwritten manuscript, 216 pages bound, 1943-1948. Written in publisher's dummy for Plays of gods and men. Includes: The three sisters; A comparison; Inconstancy; Wandering wings; A query; Home to the state (notes); Thanksgiving in Dublin; and others.

Container

4.3

Notebook 9, handwritten manuscript, 91 pages bound, 1945. Includes: The year: January, February, March, 1945; Prose-mysteries of east and west (and) Out west; Verse – To the National Library of South Africa.

Container

4.4

Notebook 10, handwritten manuscript, 110 pages bound, September 1948-February 1949. Includes: An urgent case; A scientific experiment; Little Tim Brannehan; Making a masterpiece; On other paths; The partner; At the end of an era; and others.

Notebook 14, handwritten manuscript, 56 pages bound, 18-29 November 1949. Includes: Homo sapiens; The food of imagination; The raw material; A witch in the Balkans; A crime story; Old men's tales; How Mickey paid his debt; On an antique toy.

Container

5.2

Notebook 15, handwritten manuscript, 58 pages bound, 1-17 March 1950. Includes: A plea for mercy; On giving the bird to posterity; Lost; What of the night; Idle tears; By a rural graveyard; Among the neutrals.

Container

5.3

Notebook 16, handwritten manuscript, 62 pages bound, 20 April-23 June 1950. Includes: Work; A day in April; Fossils; Nine wonders; A tribute; The long work; The prophecy; In gratitude; The confession; and others.

Container

8.1

Notebook 17, handwritten manuscript, 136 pages bound, 30 June-12 October 1950. Includes: Some writers of our time; A defence against darkness; The gypsy's song; Review of River diary; Dog stories; Boxes on the ceiling; and others.

Container

5.4

Notebook 18, handwritten manuscript, 44 pages bound, 11 November 1950-5 January 1951. Includes: Chess at Hastings; Christmas; The escape; Square ships; Notes for speech; The use of words; On seas of time; Modern magic; High Wickham; A witch of the fells.

Container

8.2

Notebook 19, handwritten manuscript, approximately 1010 pages bound, 1945-1947. Includes: A glimpse from a watch tower; A forgotten poet; The coming of time; The great apostate; Britain in these days; and others.

Notebook 21, handwritten manuscript, 60 pages bound, March 1949. Includes: A walk in the night; The fantastic dreams; The pirate of the round pond.

Container

5.7

Notebook 22, handwritten manuscript, 44 pages bound, 11-24 May 1949. Includes: A trip to Paris; A trip to Chartres; The harvesters; On the centenary of St. Columbo's College; One night in Eldorado; An ancient mariner.

Container

5.8

Notebook 23, handwritten manuscript, 292 pages bound, November 1951-April 1952. Includes: His fellow men; At the scene of the crime; The romance of his life; The verdict; Change and decay; One law for the rich; To the wine; The fall of the muses; and others.

Notebook 26, handwritten manuscript with revisions, 81 pages bound, 1934. Includes: A mystery of the east; How Ryan got out of Russia.

Container

6.1

Notebook 27, handwritten manuscript with revisions, 57 pages bound, 17 March-3 April 1950. Includes: Among the neutrals; The salute; The exhaust (poem); A boy's song (poem); An idyll of the Sahara; The world is wide (article).

Container

6.2

Notebook 28, handwritten manuscript with revisions, 62 pages bound, 1950. Includes: The world is wide; The devil among the willows; Introduction for Lady Wentworth; Work (article).

Container

6.3

Notebook 29, handwritten manuscript with revisions, 204 pages bound, March-September 1944. Includes: Germany calling (poem); Strangers; To a people asleep; The neutral in our midst; A cricket problem (story); Far from home (poem); Drakes of today; A matter of principle; A bit of strategy; To Rogers McVeagh; To Moira; Another version; On a poetical competition (article); Tales for the dark continent; A life's work; Lullaby for a neutral people; The Battle of Britain; The leaf and the pie; A printer over his pipe; To T. B. P.; Wandering wings; To the German first parachute division; Our Claudius; On a picture by Sime; June; July; To Miss Menchik; Well, isn't it?; An inscription; A policeman at home; August; September; Battle of Killahoo.

Container

6.4

Notebook 30, handwritten manuscript with revisions, 108 pages bound, September-December 1942. Includes: Ulysses bound to the mast; Fair play; To the watchman; Was he wrong?; To friends far hence; The lost omen; His message to the world; On a portrait; To Francis Ledwidge; What of the night; A song to dawn; October 19th; A dedication to soldiers of Jugoslavia; The new Bastille; Farewells; Not at his best; The burden shared; The fall; The foreboding; Westward ho!; Golden days; An inscription; The watchmen; Notes on Ardor Canis; To E. C.; Men of the middle east; Fading glories; The wreath; The new note; The old scoundrel; In time of battle; From the Irish; A dog and his neighbors; The hair of the dog; The storm; In memory of Coventry; The bells of victory; Misleading signs; At the end of an age; The prophecy; The German need; To children far away; An age of chivalry; After the avalanche; A song in the ether; The deficit; Rewards; The old way; Annus mirabilis; A song of the free; The white owl; Off the air; In Toulon harbor; A child's dream; The victory of Toulon; After Toulon; A stricken planet; To the sailors lost at Toulon; The stranger; The stormy dawn; The convalescence of earth; Who? A prayer to the east wind; An ode to tyranny; Hot work at Bremen; Exports; Verses by one Irishman; To liberty; After the raid on Naples; The ore of glory; Peace; The winds and the flags; A life sentence; A poor exchange; The fire in the rain; The truth of it; Wrath in the wind; The gift; After the Russian winter; The memorial; At the dark altar; Hell's latest; Lost pilgrims; Summary by a neutral; Wild times; The weather; Where is it?; A comrade; The judge; Wings in a cage; The one artist; The danger; By an Irish fireside; Against Hitler; On the next; To brave friends; The price; Run Rommel; Above the darkness.

Letters:

ALS to unidentified recipient re alliance between England and America, 18 April 1919.

ALS to Butt, _____, 24 October 1951.

2 ALS to Church, Richard, 24 and 26 September 1957.

2 ALS to Cruso, _____, 1 and 8 February 1923.

ALS to Curtis Brown Limited, 4 October 1923.

ALS to Egar, Mr., re Dunsany's Night at an inn, 5 November 1919.

ALS to Harris, Frank, 12 November 1931.

ALS to Harvey, Martin, undated.

Jones, Donna:

Container

7.1-4

69 ALS, 4 ALI, 2 AN, 2 Christmas cards from Lord Dunsany to Jones, Donna, 1947-1957. Included with AN October 1957: ALS from Lady Dunsany to Jones and ALS / draft from Jones to Lady Dunsany re Dunsany's death. Also included are 5 ALS and 3 TLS from Jones, Donna to Dunsany, 1950-1957. Included in letter from 6 January 1950: photo and ANI from Jones, April 2005. ANI from Jones dated 30 March 2005 also on envelope of ALS to Dunsany dated 25 October 1956. Also included in ALS from 20 November 1947 are 4 handwritten poems by Dunsany: Fauna of Kent, Starlight in Kent, A spring morning, and The darkest hour. Included with ALS from 15 March 1948: handwritten poem by Dunsany titled Beethoven. Included with ALS 24 June 1953 is a signed handwritten manuscript by Dunsany titled In a hotel lounge, 12 pages, undated. Not described in card catalog (gift G12441, 2005).

Recipient: the author's incoming correspondence, arranged alphabetically by the author of the letter; and

Miscellaneous: all other manuscripts and correspondence, arranged alphabetically by creator.

Materials that did not fit into these categories, such as art, photographs, books, and near-print materials such as newspaper clippings, were dispersed to other Ransom Center collections for cataloging and storage.